A Twist on the Social Security Phishing Scam..."Verifying Information"

I have recently been reciving calls claiming to be from Medicare and asking for a verification of my information. I ask them, "Why don't you just tell me what information you have and I'll tell you if it's correct or not." This usually gets a response that they can't do that or they don't have it handy. The called ID never says Medicare or anything similar but I would recommend not complying even if it does since Medicare does not do business that way. The phone number sometimes appears as "Invalid Number" or else a personal account which is not toll-free as government numbers typically are. Occasionally I will string the caller along - if I feel like being crotchety - until I then cut in and ask, "Excuse me, Ed - it was Ed wasn't it? ("Ed" often has a very thick Asian or Eastern European accent). To which he/she responds, "Yes sir, what is it?" I then ask, "Does your mother know that your job is stealing money from people over the phone?" Nine out of ten hang up immediately, the cocksure ones typically begin to bluster at which time I hang up. If you are more polite than I am toward petty criminals you can just say at the very beginning, "Send me the information request to the address you have in your computer and I will look at it when the postal service delivers it." Postal fraud will put them in jail, no questions asked and they know that.